Inspiration
by Fallen Ark Angel
Summary: Gajeel finds the lyrics to his new song a bit hard to come by. Levy reminds him how easy it actually is. - One-shot.


There's never a truly quiet day at the guildhall. That's what Mirajane giggled to Levy when the other woman implied the day was such. The barmaid only refilled her drink and said she was sure that, eventually, something would happen. A rowdy team would return, maybe more than one, two members would get into a disagreement, maybe more than two, and as the day wore on, so did liquor, after all, so they were due a brawl soon enough.

Levy agreed, but didn't seem as thrilled at the idea as Mirajane did. She seemed to thrive off the chaos that the bar provided, perhaps as a replacement for the lack of it she had currently in her own. Mira once lived the exciting life of a mage that Levy currently held and, while she knew that the oldest Strauss was most in her element behind the bar in those days, she imagined that there was some draw, still, to her former life.

She couldn't do it, at least, the letter mage couldn't. Not go on jobs. It wasn't as if she took the most exciting or thrilling ones, or even felt as if she contributed much when the guild was going through it's typical crisis that befell the land at least, what, six times a year? Still, the idea of having no true bearing on things was unimaginable. Worse yet the idea of having to actually come into the bar each day.

She loved the guild dearly. It was a second home to her. But it (and it's typical regulars) could really wear a person down.

Not that day though. No one of interest seemed to be about, honestly. Even Lucy, who she'd planned to meet that day, had to cancel on her when Natsu and Gray somehow managed to both want the same job up on the board and, after a quick argument, decided they'd go on it together, again, which meant Erza had to go to mediate and was it really a Team Natsu job if they didn't force

Lucy and Wendy along with them in their inevitable shenanigans? Levy wasn't too mad about the cancellation though. She knew her friend would probably have more fun out there with her team, on a job, than she would sitting around the drafty bar all day.

It was difficult though to truly get into the book before her, Levy was finding. It shouldn't be that way, considering the bar was relatively silent that day, but she worked better somehow, when it was more bustling, providing a steady hum as a backdrop. For some reason, it aided in her concentration rather than act as a disruption. The guild definitely felt much calmer when it was packed and boisterous. Even slightly less and it felt off.

"Readin', huh?" And she was joined then, at the table, as someone sat down right beside her. With little care, they shoved the large book she had laid on the table before her to the side. "Well read this for me, eh? I need your help."

Levy made a face at Gajeel as he only sat there, staring at her in complete seriousness.

"That's kind of rude, you know."

"Only kind of? Huh? I'm improving them."

"Gaj-"

"Look at this for me." He tapped the new book he'd sat before her. "It's real important, huh?"

"Is it for a job?"

"Personal reasons."

"What personal reason could you possibly have for reading this?" she questioned as she eyed the title. "It's what? A collection of poets? Why would you ever-"

"I ain't ever, is when I ever."

"Uh-"

"I'd never read this." He even snorted. "That's how come you're gonna read it for me, huh? It's not like I couldn't read it. Understand it. But I'd much rather have you do it for me, huh?"

"You want me to read the whole thing?"

"Ya can if ya like, I guess, but I mostly just need help with this." He was reaching over them to flip the book open to a specific page. "Starting here, see, it's all this one author's stuff. A whole bunch of it, see? I need ya to read them all. Break 'em down for me."

"Why? Gajeel? What are you-"

"It's important."

"But-"

"So what'll it take ya, huh? To read through it?" He was picking his nails then as he took a few harsh stares around the hall. No one of interest seemed to be about though. "A few days? It's tough stuff, ain't it?"

"Well, it won't be too hard." And she was moving to produce her special glasses then. He regarded them with a glare. "But is there something specific that you're wanting to get out of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Am I supposed to tell you about the themes? The prose? Do you want to know about symbolizm or-"

"Look, shrimp, I'm not appreciatin' you tryin' to show me up with all these big words, but-"

"I didn't exactly appreciate you just slamming down beside me and making demands either."

"Demands? He snorted heavily. "Hardly. I'll have you know that I asked ya. Did you miss that part? Do you know how many people I make requests of? Rather than just demands? And you're all pissy about it."

"You haven't even explained why you want me to do it though. Or what you want me to do."

"To read it and understand it," he complained. "Then to explain it to me."

"Even though you could read and understand it-"

"But don't wanna," he agreed with a nod. "Yeah."

"How deep is this writing then? Huh? That you need me to explain it to you?"

"Extremely."

"Well, what do I get then?"

"What do you mean?" He frowned at the suggestions. "Why would you get something?'

"I mean, you're basically hiring me."

"No." And he reached over to pat at her head, grinning toothily from the thought. "You're gonna do it outta the goodness of your heart, huh? Since we're such great friends and all."

She wasn't nearly as thrilled. "And all."

"Besides," he went on as, finally, he was getting to his feet. "What else are you gonna do all day?"

He had a point. Not to mention, her curiosity was piqued now. Since, apparently, there was no request involved in this, Gajeel, for 'personal reasons', really was tasking himself with reading poetry. Though he was being secretive for the moment, she had a feeling if she did as he wanted, the man would eventually divulge his reasoning.

It wasn't like he was just made of brains, after all. She could no doubt trick him into it, if she had to. Something told her though that she wouldn't.

There was a lot though. A lot. The book was a collection of works spanning many different authors, but she didn't even have a chance to look at any of the others. Just the one he'd wanted her to dive into. And she did. It was just a bit more consuming that she thought.

"Already?" Gajeel grumbled a bit when she turned up at his apartment the next day. "What'd I say about showin' me up?"

He invited her in though, regardless, and the woman had been there a few times by that point, so it wasn't really that awkward. They weren't too close or anything, but she'd stopped by in the past. Just for a few minutes. She wasn't so sure that this time was going to be so brief, however.

"Where's Lily?" she asked, glancing about for the Exceed as the man flipped through the notebook she'd handed off to him where he notes were. "Is he-"

"Out," was his curt answer. "And hey, shrimp, what the fuck is all this, huh?"

"What do you mean? I did what you asked."

"I asked you not to show me up," he complained. "Explicitly."

"How is me doing what you wanted showing you up?" She stood at his side with a frown as she glanced at the paper as well. "I broke down each stanza, so that if you just open the book, you can read it, you know? And then read what I wrote. And then at the end of each one, I wrote what the overall theme was-"

"This is just too much." He growled too,, frustrated it seemed as he went to toss the journal down on the couch behind them though, just as quickly, he was falling into it. "Fuckin' stupid."

"Uh, Gajeel-"

"Not you. It's just… A lot, is all, I guess. More than I thought."

"Why did you want to do it anyways? And what is it?" She had a lot of questions and, well, not wanting to ask them as she lorded over him, the letter mage tentatively moved to pick up the discarded journal before taking it's place beside him on the couch. "What are you doing, Gajeel?"

He was pretty snarly then, but still only shrugged as he said, "It was supposed to help me with my music."

"What do you mean?"

"You know," he insisted then, "it's a thing, ain't it? That people say? Or think, I guess. That writin' music is just writin' poetry, ain't it? So I thought… I thought that if I just read up on it, on this guy, that I would improve. Get better, you know." His face changed then, dark once more as he clinched a fist. "But it's just too much. It-"

"Slow down," she complained with a frown of her own. But there was some amusement behind it as well. "You hardly even gave it a chance."

"I gave it plenty of a chance."

"Gajeel, do you wanna improve your skills or not?" she complained. "I mean, you wouldn't just give up on this if it had to do with your magic, would you? So why are you giving up on this? Huh? I thought you had more tenacity than that."

His growl was one of determination then and, jumping up, she had the sudden realization that he was going to get his guitar and great, she was going to have to listen to him actually play it…

Curiosity definitely killed the cat.

Still, she forced herself to endure as they sat together, on his living room floor, him with his guitar in his lap as he tried for a good few minutes to tune it before giving up and, instead, just strumming on it as is.

For some reason, it sounded even less in tune than it had before he started toying with it…

"Now," Levy started, anyways, as she opened both the book and notebook, "what if I read it to you? Huh? And you kind of strum along with it, maybe? Or I can even read you what I thought about it, after each one. Wouldn't that be easier for you? To hear me say it and explain it than just you reading it all on your own?"

Anything was worth a shot.

It felt kind of silly, in a certain way, to Levy. Just sitting there reading poetry aloud. With Gajeel of all people. And when the man eventually quite fiddling in vain with his strings, instead only sitting and listening, she blushed a bit. His eyes were on her though, with interest, and he didn't make any smart remarks or grumble about misunderstanding. Only sat there and listened.

They must have went through a good number of the poems.

It was her that finally broke as, looking over at the man, she met his eyes as she questioned, "Why do you wanna change your music, Gajeel?"

"Eh?"

"These poems are all very...romantic and…"

"I can't be romantic? I can't have feelings? My songs are full of feelings!"

"No, I just meant, well… Why did you decide on this author?" She found that question much easier. Still, the best she got from the man was a slight shrug. Frowning, she insisted, "Did you come up with the idea on your own? Or is there...someone that you're-"

"Mirajane."

"Mira?" Levy repeated her name slowly, but nodded. Of course. She thought of the slightly older woman then and it made sense. She had the eye of most the guys up at the hall. "I didn't know that you… I mean, well-"

"She's the one," he went on though, "that told me to look this guy up. This author. To read his stuff."

"What do you mean?"

He was the one uncomfortable then, in his own home even, as he couldn't quite keep her gaze.

"I might've, kinda, gone to her, you know? She plays guitar too. Good enough, I figure. She's okay. I guess. If you like that kind of thing."

Actually playing in tune? Most people did, Levy was pretty sure. But she stayed silent, not wanting to allow the moment to slip away. She ad a feeling if she teased him, it just might.

"So I thought… If I wanna improve, maybe I could go to her." He snorted. "But she's got all these suggestions and things. Like I don't know hwo to play or something. Been playing my whole life. Who does Mirajane think she is? Huh? The fucking she-devil, I guess, because we got in a bit of an argument over the whole thing."

"You did?" Levy asked with wide eyes, but he only shrugged.

"The next day though," he went on, "she came up to me at the hall and I thoguht she was gonna try and get onto me again, but she only handed me that book, yeah? And said she can't help me, not with my technique, because I'm not a very good student- What the fuck does she know?"

Again, a lot, but Levy stayed silent.

"She said though," Gajeel continued to grumble, "that it's some of her favorite stuff to read, these poems right here, by that specific guy. That inspires her. And that the music isn't just, you know, the instrument. It's more than notes. It's feeling, you know? And I agree. On that, at least. Then she said that maybe I should try and read up on some poetry myself, you know? See if it spoke to me. If I learned anything. That she still did it, you know. Studied others. Listened to others. Read others. To improve her own stuff. But..."

"But what?"

He only shrugged. "It didn't say nothin' to me. Don't get me wrong, shrimp, I sure liked listening to ya read it, you/re real good at keepin' my attention, but the words just kind of go over my head and I don't think I ever want to sound like that. When I'm writin'. All flowery and stuff. It's not me."

"It's not," she agreed with a smile. "But it's Mirajane, maybe. And that's why she likes it so much. Why she can draw from it so much. But you're not that way."

"Clearly."

"She had the right idea though," Levy insisted to the man. "Gajeel. And I mean, you probably do it when you write already, huh? You find something that inspires you and then you write about it. But Mira was just trying to tell you to dig deeper. Like… You love Lily, don't you?"

"I guess it depends on what you're implying," he asked with a frown back at her. "But sure, he's my cat. What of it?"

"You wouldn't just say that in a song, would you? Just flat out inform someone listening that he's your cat, huh? You'd...you'd tell a story or a metaphor or give an antecedent about him. That's what Mira meant. If your technique is lacking-"

"Which it ain't."

"But if it was," she insisted, "then, if your lyrics meant something, if your words were conveying real emotions, then it wouldn't matter as much. Your chords and notes could be simple because what you were saying wouldn't be."

He considered this in silence for a few seconds before whispering, "I guess she ain't so bad. Mirajane ain't. If that's all she was trying to tell me."

Nodding, Levy said, "She meant well. But these poems just don't speak to you. Don't mean anything to you. Maybe none of them in this book do. Because that's not what gives you inspiration. Not what;ll make you dig deeper. But that's okay. You don't have to get it from the same place that Mirajane gets it, you know. You just have to find what makes you feel that way. The way she felt about these poems she gave you. There's gotta be something."

He just stared at her though, for a few long moments, before looking off and saying, "I guess you can finish, you know. Reading them. If you wanted. I like listening, like I said. Even if I don't get it all."

She blushed some, but nodded as she looked back down at the book. "Of course, Gajeel."

Eventually though, she had to head out and the man just walked her to the door, left behind with the book and notebook to go over, she said. Before he gave it back to Mira. Just to be sure that nothing spoke to him.

"You can only improve," she assured him at the door and the man nodded. Then they parted ways for a bit.

Jet was back from a solo job by that point and she, him, and Droy were gone from the hall for a bit. When she returned, it was to find it back to it's noisy norm as not only had Team Natsu returned, but most everyone else, it felt like. Levy was actually enjoying listening to Lucy tell her all about her adventure as the pair sat alone, save Happy, who was mostly avoiding the scolding Erza was handing down to Natsu at the moment.

It was on her walk back to the dormitory though that she ran into the man. He and Pantherlily were just arriving back from a job of their own and though the man hung back to speak with her, his Exceed only flew on, calling over his shoulder he was too hungry for formalities.

Gajeel was too, honestly, as they hadn't eaten in a good solid few hours, but he found himself walking the woman home.

"Have you found it yet?" Levy asked after he went on, just a bit, about his job. "With your music? Something to, like, get you motivated?"

"I read some more of those poems, if that's what you mean."

"And?"

"And I don't like it," he told her. "It's like I said. They only sound good when you read them, I guess. Or like how you said too. That it's easier to make out, when it's being told to me."

She smiled with a glance up at the man, not bothered by the dry expression he had in return.

"You'll find it eventually." She even giggled. "Everyone has something."

"But you'll come over again?" he asked. "I mean, if you wanted. To read the poems. You don't gotta, but-"

"Of course, Gajeel."

And she did. A week later, she arrived at his home to do as she'd done before, reading from the book as the man mostly pretend to understand how to tune a guitar (it was becoming increasingly clear to the woman he was just flat tone deaf). They sat on the floor of his living room, this time with drinks, and it was more relaxed, even, now that it was something of a habit.

"You can't keep Mira's book forever, you know," she told him at one point and the slayer only grunted as he watched her down her drink. "She'll want it back eventually."

"Yeah, well-"

"And can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"What made you go to Mirajane in the first place?"

"Eh? I thought I told you that-"

"You said that you went to her to get better," she agreed. "But I already know that you think you're way better than her, anyways, on the guitar-"

"We're even. On a good day. For her."

"But why did you want to improve then? And on what?" She stared at him from across the floor and he only snorted, looking back down at his guitar. "I'm serious. What made you wanna get better?"

"Maybe," he stared as he glared off, "I wanted to write somethin'. But it just never came out right. Maybe that's it."

"Maybe," Levy agreed.

"And hey, I thought you were supposed to be reading to me. How am I supposed to ever retain it if-"

"Gajeel."

"What?" He snorted again. "And stop lookin' at me like that. Give me a complex or something."

But she only continued to as she asked, "Can you show me what you were trying to write?"

"How? Huh? It ain't finished."

"But-"

"It ain't," he insisted, "finished. Hardly even started. It just all sounded wrong and… Why do you care so much? Huh? You're more into it than me, it feels like."

"You're the one that sought me out," she reminded him. "Each time."

"The first time, maybe, fine, but the second time was pure chance."

She rolled her eyes at him though before they fell back to the book in her lap. Sighing, she asked, "Did you want me to keep going? Or-"

"What do you do, huh?" he asked instead as, setting his guitar to the side, he only moved to pick up his beer. "When what's, you know, makin' you wanna write and making you wanna feel somethin', is what's making it so hard? What if the same thing I can't put into words is what inspires me? Mira didn't think of that, did she? When she gave me this book?"

"I think Mira was just trying to be nice to you," Levy told him honestly. "You do make that a bit difficult."

"She told me to practice scales. Scales. Do I look like a chump who practices scales? Fuckin' barmaid gonna tell me how to play guitar."

"You did ask her though," Levy pointed out.

"What a mistake." Then, slowly, he shrugged. "Wasn't all bad though. I did get this book outta it. And you to read me from the book out of it."

"But neither of which have helped you with your original problem," she reminded and he groaned, when she did, because man, she was right.

"I guess it's just not easy," he whispered finally as she continued to look on. "When you're writin' somethin' so deep. I bet it took that guy his whole life to write all that. His poems. Not all of those couldda been easy. And Mirajane, she thinks she's so great when, what? All I ever hear her play is the same song, every time, up at the guild."

This didn't make sense to Levy as Mirajane knew many songs and played an array of them for the others. Then she realized that was probably because, in a fit of rage, Gajeel probably stomped out before she ever got passed that first one she tended to play. Sounded about right.

"It'll come to me, I guess," he gave in finally, "when it does. You can't rush genius, after all."

"That's true," she agreed because, yeah, the statement was. She wasn't so sure about the application. Still, as her eyes read over the line of the next poem, she asked, "Do you want me to go on now?"

And the man only nodded.

That time neither was out on jobs, but rather just caught up in the daily grind. Gajeel trained a lot and Levy had other things to worry about than counseling him through his never ending musical woes.

"You," she complained when, inevitably, she found herself back at the apartment to, once more, assist the man, "have got to give Mirajane her book back."

"If she wanted it, she'd ask for it."

"She's too nice to do that."

"Sounds like a personal problem."

Still, Levy only took her place and this time, he didn't even bring out his guitar. Instead, in the dark living room, he laid flat on his back, eyes shut, as she read from the book to him.

"I guess that's just what I don't get," he complained after she explained a certain part to him. "There's so much that they just want you to infer, you know? With this kind of stuff. I don't want no one to have to infer nothiin' when I sing for 'em. I want them to get it right off the bad."

"There's poems like that. There's songs like that."

"Then-"

"But you still want it to sound nice," she insisted. "If it was as easy as just writing out your thoughts, then- Oh, Gajeel!"

"What?" He sat up fast enough that his head spun (though this might have a bit to do with the beers he'd been downing). "What's wrong?"

"I got it." She was slamming the book shut then. "What we need to do."

"We?" he asked with a snort. "And what do you mean anyways, shrimp?"

"You should write it all down."

"Eh?"

"Your thoughts," she insisted. "On...whatever it is that you're so stuck on. You should write them all out. Then I'll read them and tell you what I think. Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

He only frowned as he said, "No," before falling back down.

"Gajeel-"

"Why would I want you readin' all my feelings and thoughts and things? Huh?"

"Why wouldn't you?" she challenged back. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"But," he kept up though he stayed down, "these would be my deep inner feelings. I have those, you know."

She'd always figured, anyways.

"You can't," he insisted, "just let anyone read those."

"But if they were going to be in your song anyways-"

"But covered up with clever, uh, what were those things again? Metaphors. That's it. Allusions. Illustrations."

"Probably not the last one."

Whatever.

"You let a person in on one portion of your creative process," he grumbled, "and suddenly they think that they're your manager or something."

"I'm just trying to help."

That hung between them for awhile, but she didn't move to start reading again. She didn't move to get up to leave though either. So they only stayed where they were, on the floor of his living room, as time ticked away from them.

"It's just different," he finally broke the silence. "Once it's a song. Once I'm singin' it. If I wrote down how I...felt, or thought as I tried to put it together, that would just be too..."

"Raw," she finished for him. "And that's okay. I was just trying to-"

"But it's not okay." He sat up again then just so he could stare over at her. "Levy."

They just sat there for along while, staring at one another in the darkness, before she told him, "You should write it out then, Gajeel, just for yourself. That would help. Do you not do that already? You should."

"This is the kind of advice I wanted from her. Mirajane." He sneered then. "Scales. Fucking scales."

"I'm going to give her back her book," she told him then. "Today. I think we've kinda done all we can with it. Don't you?"

He nodded before fall onto his back once more. "Yeah, I guess we have."

"They're not really giving you any inspiration or whatever, anyways, I don't think."

"No. They weren't."

"I'm actually kinda surprised that Mira's into this kind of stuff. I mean, I don't want to be mean, but-"

"Levy?"

"Yeah?"

"You can still come over, you know, sometimes." He probably would have shrugged, were he not laying on his back. "If you wanted. We don't just gotta read stupid poetry, but-"

"Yeah, Gajeel." She got to her feet then, finally, book in hand. "Any time."

The bar was packed that night when she went in, which meant Mirajane was definitely on duty. Before she went to take a seat where Jet and Droy were arguing over something, she stopped off at the bar to hand the woman her book back.

"Oh." Mira seemed confused at first, but just as quickly was excited. "So you've spoken with Gajeel?"

"W-Well, yeah, he's been kind of greedy, keeping your book, so I thought I'd bring it-"

"So he played you the song then?" Mira asked and she was being called from across the bar by someone, but she only kept her bright blue eyes on the woman before her. "The one that he wrote for you?"

"What?"

"Did he not? Yet?" She frowned, Mira did, but now she had multiple people calling out for refills and Kinana was off that day, so it was all falling on her shoulders. "Oh, Levy, I didn't- Just forget I said anything, okay?"

She had to rush off then, Mira did, and Levy only stood there for a moment, confused only long enough to feel the blush creep up her cheeks.

"What's up?" Jet asked as she took her seat beside him, but she could only shake her head and, well, they need her then. To settle their argument. It was hard to get into though for the woman as all she could think about was…

It made sense, of course, and as she laid awake that night thinking about it, as she had been the entire night, all of it fit together so perfectly. Gajeel needed help writing a song for her, but given he was so irascible with everyone else, had no one to turn to help him with this and had to go to her. But unable to say what he really wanted, he had led her on this entire goose chase that ended in...what?

Her going back to his apartment with him, of course, a few days later, when he asked. He'd gone out, he explained, and bought another book of poems and maybe those could help him?

"If you read 'em to me, I think, and we work through them together this time," he kept up as they walked together to his place, "then maybe… Well, I dunno. Maybe something will click. I just gotta like someone's style, the way I see it, to have them influence me. Show me the way and all. Then I'll have songs flowin' from me like a river!"

She knew she should say something, but she couldn't. It almost felt wrong. Almost. But it would be more wrong, wouldn't it? To take it from Gajeel? The game he was playing was hurting no one, really, and it would only be better if it met it's natural conclusion rather than her throwing down the information that Mira gave her.

So she went. Each time he asked. If she were free. Sometimes she wasn't. He had to navigate the waters himself and, though she felt nervous each and every time, convinced that it was gonna be the day, he was gonna tell her, finally tell her, anything, really, Levy knew she had to stay the course. Else she risked tossing the slayer right off it.

But it didn't come. Not in those nights that she sat up there in his apartment with him.

They didn't just read poetry together. She could tell he wasn't nearly as into that as he pretended. Honestly, neither was she. They searched for things to inspire him. From real books to movies on a lacrima to other music, even. There had to be something. Something that gave him a breakthrough.

"Yeah," Levy whispered as they stared down at art in a magazine that sat in his lap while she was at his side, on the couch. "Something."

The song reveal came though in the worst way possible. Or maybe the best? She wasn't sure. Only that she wasn't expecting it. She was actually busy not doing much of all, talking with Lisanna and Lucy about something. Boos though drowned out the sound of what her friends were saying though and when they all glanced up, it was to find that Gajeel, once more, was taking his way to the stage, much to the protest of the others.

"This is important!" the slayer insisted to the others and yeah, maybe it was, but what about their hearing? Sure felt it weighed out whatever he thought was so crucial. "Fuckin' ingrates."

But Mirajane didn't seem to be stopping him for once and it took a moment to connect for Levy. Honest. She wasn't sure what he was going to play when he got up there on the stage, but she didn't think it would be so…

It was weird. To know something. In a room of a hundred people. Be one of only two who knew it. That was the kicker, too. That it was so revealing and personal and yet, seemingly, no one noticed. At all.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked her with a bit of a giggle when she noticed how stricken her friend looked. "He's not that bad. It almost sounds in tune this time."

Almost was key.

Which Gajeel was not singing in.

Still, Levy only muttered something about needing air before exiting. It was easy to do with little notice from the others as they all seemed very content with letting Gajeel know he was bad and should feel bad.

Fairy Tail was equally the most supportive and critical guild around.

"There are."

He came and found her after he finished informing the others that they just had no taste, hanging around outside of the building. Gajeel had come out rather sour, guitar still in hand, but the look faded as he approached her into something else. Something…

Something that was close to the same nerves that she could feel then as, the second he was close enough, she just did it. He was a lot taller than her, so she had to lean up as far on her toes as she could do so, but still, she pressed a kiss to his lips and the slayer almost felt the same heat she had, when she first realized what he was singing up there on the stage.

"Hey," he complained, but just a bit as he took a step backwards. "What was that-"

"How did you do it?" she asked instead. "Gajeel? How did you finsih your… You said that you couldn't, that you didn't know how to, but-"

"I guess," he grumbled as, with his free hand, he reached up to scratch at his head, "that I was getting it, you know? Inspiration or whatever? I thought that it was all getting blocked or confused, when you'd hang around, but ti wasn't. I just wasn't filtering through it correctly. But the more you came around, trying to help me, it just… It wrote itself." He laughed too, just a bit, after he said that. "I guess it is that easy. When you know what you want."

Finally processing that she'd just, quit impulsively, kissed the slayer, Levy could only let out a long breath as her eyes fell to the ground.

"Yeah," she agreed finally when he reached out to pat her on the head, being rewarded with her glancing up at him once more. He still looked kind of uncomfortable which she resented some, considering he'd been the one to put this all in motion, but still, through her blush she found herself smiling as she agreed, "It is easy, isn't it?"


End file.
